Slithering Thoughts

"What's gotten you so excited all of a sudden?" Harry voiced to the grinning girl who had been waiting for him on the other side of the barrier.

"Not sure." Elanor replied with a thoughtful frown. "Think I'm just excited for this year. It feels like my first year again." At this, Elanor's eyes darkened slightly, before she shook her head slightly, blinking away the slight melancholy she seemed to be feeling.

"Just waiting to see where it all goes wrong, I guess." Elanor added with a grim smile.

"You got a self-certified problem fixer here." Harry drawled lightly. "I'd stake my reputation on being able to ease all worries and manner of shenanigans, or I'm not Harry Potter."

Elanor simply looked at him blankly for a moment before shaking her head and turning around. "Come on, we have to find a compartment." She called out as she walked away, leaving a confused Harry behind, gaping at her.

Quickly getting sense of his bearings, he scanned the platform, which was rather busy at the moment, parents and children bustling around, meeting old friends and the like. It was rather noisy, but Harry couldn't help but smile slightly as he saw several kids who appeared to be upcoming first years, grinning as they hopped on the scarlet steam train. He only took a moment more, before shaking himself out of his contemplative state, hefting Elanor's trunk with surprising ease, onto the luggage carriage and chasing after her.

Catching up to her, he grumbled slightly. "You could be more patient you know."

Elanor could only look at him with slightly nervous brown eyes. "Well I'd rather avoid as many people as I can."

"Sorry for leaving you behind so quickly though." She added.

"Just stop worrying about stuff. If anything it's me that should be nervous, it's my first year here after all." Harry pointed out, green eyes softening slightly.

"Alright. I'll try." Elanor replied with a small frown, before Harry poked her in the forehead.

"Do stop that." Harry murmured with a small smirk. "We have to find a compartment right?"

Growling slightly at his nerve, she simply scowled in reply.

/

Smoothly making their way towards the end of the train, some people gave the pair curious glances, mainly because one of them was a boy they hadn't seen before, and even stranger, he was in the company of Riddle, who had a reputation of being dark. Elanor couldn't help the slight nervous twitches as more people paid notice to them, while Harry seemed perfectly content to just follow her, oblivious to everything else. It wasn't as if he needed to say hello to everyone he saw, it wasn't his obligation to introduce himself.

Finally reaching an empty compartment in the end carriage, she breathed an audible sigh of relief, as Harry slunk in behind her, absently shutting the door and locking it.

"Thanks." She sighed. "I don't think I could deal with people coming round to say hello to the new guy. Let alone what else I expect them to say of course." She visibly slumped in her seat, eyes downcast slightly.

Nudging her shoulder with his own, Harry grabbed her attention as he parked himself next to her on the seat. "Words often hurt." He admitted. "Eventually, I'm sure you'll not let it get to you."

"Well, I usually ignore what they say. They never see it affect me." Elanor murmured, eyes darkening slightly. "It's Slytherin house after all. Showing signs of weakness would…"

"Seems more like a house of vultures when you put it that way." Harry input with a small smirk. "How noble of them." He added with biting sarcasm.

At this, Elanor gave him a strained smile, putting on a brave face.

"Hey now. I might be trying to cheer you up, but it doesn't mean you have to fake it." Harry sighed. "If you're unhappy, you're unhappy. Remember what I said about lying to yourself."

"I get it." She replied in a small voice.

"Lying to others is a whole different thing." Harry spoke up, trying to draw her out of her funk. "Ever so easy isn't it?"

"True." Elanor murmured, closing her eyes in the moment. "I just don't know how to react to things like this. It's hard, when everyone you know doesn't really care, and especially hard if you delude yourself into thinking someone does."

"Someone always cares. Whether it's on a personal level, is another thing." Harry replied, giving her a quick squeeze on the arm. "Since I'm calling you my friend, it's my job to care. Wouldn't want to disappoint you if I failed in that regard."

"You're only hanging around with me because I'm the only person you know around here." Elanor told him.

"That's a problem how?" Harry grinned, causing Elanor to blink in shock.

"People end up friends for the daftest of things sometimes." Harry pointed out to her surprised look. "Only thing that matters is what is, and not what might have been."

"Though people will always think of what was, and what could be, what is, is the most important thing." Harry soothingly spoke. "I live in the present, but I will always think of what once was, and what could be. I can only hope that what happens right now, is all that truly matters to me."

"You can live for the future, at the cost of the now, or live for now, and deal with whatever comes as best as you can." Harry ended with a smooth smile.

"Don't you think so Ellie?" he turned his head to her with a lopsided grin. "I don't care for money, power, or even fair weather friends. I am content to live for now."

"You're a ridiculously optimistic git." Elanor grumbled. "It's so damn hard not to keep pitying myself when you're there with a lecture every single time I do it."

"Good!" Harry exclaimed cheerfully. "The monkey training is working!"

"You what!?" Elanor looked at him with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. "I am not some animal you can train!"

"I know." Harry grinned unrepentantly. "Still, I am training you to think, aren't I?"

Elanor simply huffed in reply.

"Which is why I'm surprised that you haven't realised that I've shared a few secrets with you. I wouldn't do that if I wasn't invested in some manner." Harry pointed out logically. "I can only honestly say, I enjoy your company, more than keeping my secrets to myself." Though I wish someone could know them all.

"Yeah, but aren't you good with Memory Charms or something?" Elanor replied smoothly. "That doesn't mean anything to me."

At this, Harry's eyes seemed to dim slightly. "You still don't trust me?"

"Eventually maybe. I don't fully trust you yet." Elanor replied after a moment's thought. "I don't trust anyone. But I'm trying to."

"Just don't break that bit of trust Harry." Elanor remarked gloomily. "I don't think I could deal with it."

At this, Harry flinched imperceptibly. "I won't." he replied coolly.

"Good." Elanor sighed in slight relief, before pulling out a book on Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Harry simply laid his head back, shutting his eyes as he tamed his racing thoughts. He was tired, and needed to take his mind off the upcoming events. As he drifted off to sleep, he wondered just what his old friend was doing now and whether she'd find him again. Then again, he realised that was an impossibility at present. It was broken after all.

/

Elanor was engrossed in her book, steadfastly ignoring Harry's sleeping head on her shoulder. She had briefly entertained the thought of waking him up to get him to move, but couldn't bear to wipe the peaceful look off his face. It was an odd thing, but during Occlumency training, she had learnt to identify emotions with far more clarity. Having learnt a few of Harry's emotions and the way they affected his facial expressions, or even the look in his eyes, she had always struggled to figure out just what his natural expression would be like.

She had realised very early on, that he put on an act nearly all the time. There were the rare moments he let it slip when talking about certain topics, though she was unsure how some of them even affected him. And now she seemed to have come to a conclusion. He was tired.

And no, not just tired as in wanting to sleep. It seemed to be as though he were so very tired, that it seeped into his bones. He seemed to want nothing more than to drift away into the land of dreams at times. He was weary. Sometimes, Elanor traitorously thought he was sick of life in general, though she never gave voice to it. In any case, he seemed to be soldiering on, for some cause or desire he had left unfulfilled. Searching for peace perhaps.

Elanor thought she understood this feeling, but she started to think she didn't really, when catching Harry's unguarded moments. It wasn't as if he was purposeless in life, it was simply that whatever it was, completely evaded her. But at least, his dogged determination to continue on with his goal, whatever it was, and no matter how he felt about it, inspired her. She shouldn't give up on what she wants out of life, so soon. She should fight tooth and nail for everything she was due.

After all if Harry wouldn't give up, why should she?

Her book now lay in her lap, forgotten as she came to this conclusion, before a sharp knock on the compartment door startled her out of her musing, causing her to jolt slightly, and Harry to murmur unintelligibly in his sleep for the moment.

Frowning she considered her options. She could ignore it or open the door for whoever it was. The train wasn't ready to leave just yet, since they had arrived early on the platform, so it was probably someone trying to find a last minute seat before the train departed. Scowling slightly, before smoothing her expression over into the blank one she always showed to others at Hogwarts, she flicked her wand at the door, feeling a sense of pride as the silent unlocking spell did it's work, the door making a clicking sound, before it was pulled open, and a head poked in.

"Thank you. Do you mind if we sit here?" the feminine voice called out, causing Elanor to look at her for a scant moment, recognising the silky blonde tresses, emotionless façade and icy blue eyes. Daphne Greengrass, a member of Slytherin in the same year as her. Standing behind her was her sister, who was a second year Slytherin now, she remembered, with brown hair and blue eyes, but with a more mischievous air about her, rather than the cold and well known 'Ice-Queen' persona that Daphne presented.

"If you have to." Elanor replied coolly, wanting nothing more than to say no, and to leave her and Harry in peace, but alas not wanting to act out of character.

Daphne paused slightly at the sight in front of her, the sleeping boy with his head resting on her shoulder, before she simply replied monotonously. "Thank you Riddle." and then proceeded to sit opposite her, steadfastly ignoring the view, even while her sister kept her eyes glued to the sleeping boy.

The compartment settled into awkward silence for a few minutes, after Astoria had shut the door behind her and the train had finally set off with a blaring of its horn, before she finally blurted out what she had been dying to say.

"Who's the cute boy?" she looked wide-eyed at Elanor with a slight tint of red in her cheeks, causing Elanor to cough in slight shock, and Daphne to frown subtly at her sister.

Charging on ahead though, Astoria continued rambling. "He seems new. I mean, I've never seen him before, and I think I would definitely rememb… er wha…." She blushed this time, as Elanor looked at her oddly, followed by her sister's almost inaudible sigh. "Um… him." She ended shyly.

"Do refrain from such outbursts Astoria." Daphne finally spoke up with a slightly stern tone, locking eyes with her sister. "It's rude."

At this, Astoria simply rolled her eyes. "Yeah well, not all of us want to act all prim and proper all the time Daphne!" Elanor watched the conversation with rapt attention, unconsciously paying attention to all the quirks each sister seemed to have. Normally in this situation she would ignore them entirely, and they would probably ignore her, but she had been learning to read people by body language and so on, in place of Legilmency, to supplement her Occulmency.

"Astoria." Daphne's voice cracked slightly in annoyance. "You know what's expected-"

"To hell with expectations!" Astoria exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air staring up at her sister. "I'm twelve! Not bloody fifty!"

"Why the hell do things always come down to societal niceties and money, power and all manner of stupid things!?" Astoria continued on, ranting slightly. "I mean, for Merlin's sake Daphne! What the hell happened to you!?"

Daphne could only look on at her impassively, but her sister knew she'd hit the mark from the look in her eyes. While her face remained as stoic as ever, her eyes showed the slight glimmer of hurt, but Astoria forcefully ignored that for the moment. "I miss my sister. I don't know who you are, but you're not her."

At this, Daphne looked away slightly, not wanting to show Astoria, and Riddle especially, how much that had really hurt. She couldn't afford to let strangers see her as anything less than a strong, young woman.

"Look, that's enough." Elanor finally cut in, having found her courage. She looked at them both sternly before firmly speaking. "If you're going to make a racket, do it elsewhere, away from me. I don't have to let you stay here, and I won't put up with that rubbish."

As Daphne looked at her, still impassively, but with a slightly curious air, and Astoria glanced away in slight embarrassment, Elanor sighed. "I'm pretty certain you have friends you can go join instead. Why you had to come here is beyond me."

Daphne could only think that Riddle was seemingly rather more forceful this year, whereas she rarely seemed to speak to anyone or spend any time around people, she had always seemed weak. Daphne didn't honestly care one way or the other about how she was treated, mainly because she was a firm believer that you deal with your own problems. Now though, there seemed to be a little more fire in her eyes this time around, and this intrigued her. People changed all the time, but obviously, there was a reason for hers. That boy next to her was most probably the reason. And she unfortunately couldn't help but admit he was rather fetching, though she certainly didn't care for such trivial things. But it was interesting. Why was he with Riddle? And she definitely seemed comfortable in his presence, if not more bold.

She was a Slytherin though. She could be patient, and wait for her answers. Besides, Astoria was already dead set on doing the leg work here. Why not take advantage of the opportunity, without showing her interest in the new boy?

"My apologies. We won't disturb you." Daphne replied smoothly, along with a half-hearted nod from Astoria. "We merely spend time with each other on the train ride here and back. If there was another compartment we could go to, we would not have disturbed you here."

Elanor simply gazed at them with some undecipherable emotion before nodding gently, taking care not to knock the boy's head of her shoulder. "Good." She said, before casting her gaze back to her book that had laid forgotten.

With that, Daphne took out one of her own, sitting back and waiting for Astoria's impatience to finally boil over. It was ever so easy that way.

/

Finally, almost an hour later, Astoria gave in to the impulse, before leaning forward and giving Harry a sharp poke in the ribs, causing him to jerk awake in shock, and Elanor to fumble her book at the unexpected movement.

"Wha-!" Harry blinked blearily for a moment, before his green eyes zeroed in on the offender. A short girl, perhaps a year or two younger than him, with straight brown hair and mischievous eyes was staring at him with a slight red tinge of embarrassment, which turned into a slight squeak of worry as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

"You." He voiced coldly, causing her to babble her apologies, even while Elanor watched on, with faint amusement. The blonde haired, blue eyed girl opposite her had raised an eyebrow slightly, and was watching, evidently with an air of apparent disinterest.

"O-oh, m-merlin I'm so sorry!" Astoria squeaked slightly, as Harry leaned his head forward, gaze drilling into her, and causing her to fall silent immediately.

"Thank you for the compliment." Harry suddenly grinned, causing her cheeks to heat up at his proximity while feeling slightly bewildered as to how she had actually complimented him.

"C-Compliment?" she voiced quietly, with an air of confusion, while Elanor and Daphne simply looked on, having already understood what he meant.

"I know." Harry raised a hand as he leaned back for a moment. "I admit it's nice when they say Oh Merlin, bu- OOF!" he started to talk with a slightly mischievous smirk, before Elanor hastily elbowed him in his other set of ribs, cutting off what was likely to be a rather raunchy joke, as she already knew he was prone to do.

"Alright!" he raised his hands pleadingly. "I won't say it!" he turned to Elanor with his green eyes, before looking back at Astoria, who looked dumbstruck at the moment, before colour suddenly rose up her cheeks, having just realised what he may have been about to inflict on her innocent mind. Well, she could freely admit that she wasn't all that innocent, but still, jokes between friends were one thing, but a complete stranger, who had the dreamiest eyes she'd ever seen…

She blinked rapidly for a moment, before noticing the slightly concerned look on his face, the slightly flushed one of Riddle's and the ghost of a smile that crossed her sister's for a fleeting moment, and her thoughts quickly went back on track, but not before being noticed by her companions in the compartment.

"Back with us eh?" the boy spoke up once more, all trace of teasing gone from his tone this time, allowing Astoria to collect herself. "I should probably restrain myself more often." He murmured to himself, though it was still caught by everyone in the compartment.

"Care to explain why you woke me from my blissful slumber?" Harry queried her in honest curiosity. "I was having such a nice dream after all." He added, causing Elanor's eyes to narrow beside him, elbow poking him slightly in warning.

"In all honesty though, I hate being woken up." He grumbled, before sighing slightly, and slumping back in his seat.

Astoria's mind set to work rapidly as she tried to find the words to say, before eventually even she could not wait for her brain to keep up with her mouth, as she blurted out her question. "Who are you?"

"I-I mean, I-we've never seen you before." Astoria continued, hastily adding Daphne into the firing line as it were, causing Daphne to frown subtly.

"Curiosity then?" Harry asked her rhetorically, running a hand through his messy black hair. "I don't suppose you could have waited for me to wake up, or ask Elanor?"

At this, Astoria gaped slightly. "Uh… Didn't think of that!" she replied, forcing a small grin, and Elanor to huff slightly. As if she would spoil Harry's fun by introducing him herself. She knew he liked making certain impressions on people, and she certainly knew what kind of impression he had made on that silly girl, who obviously found him attractive. It was a shame she was naïve to how Harry actually behaved sometimes.

"Obviously." Harry voiced dryly, causing Astoria to flush in further embarrassment. "Well, there's something you should be doing right about now, yes?" he continued, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"Oh? Oh!" Astoria exclaimed, as she realised what she meant. "I'm Astoria Greengrass, and that's my sister Daphne." She spoke smoothly, pointing to her sister negligently as she did so.

Judging by the slight twitch of Daphne's eye, Harry assumed that she had wished to introduce herself, probably part of some stodgy old Pureblood custom, but Harry grinned internally at the fact that Astoria didn't seem to buy into that kind of thing, evidenced by… well everything she'd actually done so far.

"Pleased to meet you Miss Greengrass, and uhm… Miss Greengrass." Harry winced slightly at what he had just said before steadfastly ignoring the stupidity of it. "My name's Potter… Harry Potter." He added with a lopsided smirk, causing Elanor to groan in exasperation.

"Nice to meet you…" Astoria began before trailing off, causing Harry to solve her dilemma for her.

"Harry. That'll do fine." He replied with a nod.

"Nice to meet you Harry!" she returned cheerfully.

"Well it's nice to make your acquaintance uhm…" Harry copied Astoria's previous dilemma, hoping she would repeat the courtesy.

"Astoria." She replied.

"Naah." Harry waved it off. "Too long for me to keep calling you. Hmm, how about Tori?" he remarked almost casually, causing Astoria to blink in surprise.

"That would be nice." She voiced almost shyly, remembering when her sister referred to her by that name, though she rarely acted as informal these days, merely saying her first name.

"Alright!" Harry smiled, face lighting up slightly. "So Tori, what do you want to know?" he asked, causing Astoria eye's to light up in good cheer, but he noticed Daphne's strangled gasp at having done so. It seemed her little act wasn't as perfect as she would like it to be.

"So Harry, tell me why you're here? I mean, you've not been to Hogwarts before." Astoria prompted him, tilting her head to the side cutely as she did so.

"I am here to go to school." He returned with mock-confusion, causing Astoria to grumble, already having forgotten her shyness, and instead launching into more chatter.

"I know that silly!" she giggled slightly. "I mean, you've obviously come for a reason. What year are you going in? Where did you learn before? Where did you meet Riddle? Is she your friend? Do you have a pet? Familiar? What house do you think you'll be in? And-"

"Whoa!" Harry chuckled wryly, interrupting her stream of questions, as she fought to get her breath back, flushing slightly, realising she'd let her mouth run away with her again. "I get it!"

Elanor could only look at the girl slightly dumbfounded, while Daphne seemed to be perfectly at ease, obviously having experience with her sister's antics.

"Perhaps you should let him tell you about himself. I am sure he does not need endless prompting." Daphne spoke up in a cool voice. "It is obvious he intends to, at some point." She added, looking Harry in the eye for a moment, before turning away from his gaze. It had felt like she was suddenly being assessed thoroughly as their eyes crossed, which had caused her pause for a moment.

"Ok. So tell me about yourself Harry." Astoria finally spoke up with a small grin.

"Ah well." Harry pondered for a moment, while taking a small glance at Elanor, who seemed content to absorb herself back into her book. "Well, I'm fourteen, I have an owl, I was home-tutored before, I'll be in fourth year, and I love treacle tart." He replied, giving a satisfied nod at his answer, and causing Astoria to roll her eyes at him.

"You're an incorrigible tease aren't you?" she remarked softly.

"Unfortunately." Elanor remarked dryly as she read her book. "Stop messing around with the girl, Harry." She added without sparing him a glance.

"Alright." Harry sighed. "Well, it's not exactly a crazy story or anything, but I'm a fourteen year old emancipated minor." He said simply, correctly guessing that Astoria and Daphne would understand what that meant.

"Oh." Astoria grimaced slightly. "Sorry."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Harry waved a hand negligently. "In any case, I live on my own in London, near the Leaky Cauldron actually, with my owl Hedwig. She's a nice owl, if a little vicious when it comes to bacon."

"I was home tutored for several years, outside of Britain, or I would have come to Hogwarts at eleven." Harry continued. "I actually only came back to Britain this summer, buying a place to live in London."

"I could probably continue to hire out tutors myself, but I decided I'd be better off going to Hogwarts and meeting people around my age." He added. "Besides, it's supposed to be a good school anyway, even if it's a boarding school."

"So, what's your story?" Harry queried her.

"My turn huh?"

"Yep."

/

Having gotten Astoria engaged in a conversation, he had learnt quite a few things about the Greengrasses, and though they might not have realised, he had carefully constructed a set of mental notes about how each sister behaved. He considered himself a good judge of a person, and there were a few things there that he found interesting. Astoria was refreshingly easy to understand, while Daphne, who had opted to not even involve herself in the conversation, was more difficult. Harry thought he'd come to a good set of conclusions about her though, which he would probably share with Elanor later.

Several hours had passed, with each person in the compartment having settled into various activities, Astoria randomly sketching things in her notebook, while Elanor and Daphne revisited their school books. And Harry, had yet again dozed off, this time resting his head against a wall, not wanting to make Elanor uncomfortable.

He had woken partway through to grab a chocolate frog off the trolley when the lady had passed by, sharing a few pumpkin pasties with Astoria and Elanor before going back to his nap, while Daphne seemed content to skip out on it.

"It's about time everyone got changed into their school robes. We'll be there in about fifteen minutes." Daphne informed them smoothly, leaving Elanor to nudge Harry awake.

"You need to get changed into your robes." Elanor murmured as he opened his eyes, slightly disgruntled.

"Hmm, ok." He replied, before pulling out his robes from his pocket, and stripping off his clothing, leaving him in just his boxers. He quickly pulled his robes on, and adjusted his tie, before turning to look at the girls. "This alright?"

"It was better before." Astoria squeaked, red-faced as she tried to avert her gaze from Harry. This caused Harry to frown slightly. "Oh."

"I hope you aren't expecting us to return the favour, Potter." Daphne voiced coolly, though she couldn't help the slight tinge of pink that had hit her. After all, he had stripped down right in front of them, without a second thought. And she certainly knew he was very fetching, and couldn't help but allowing her gaze to linger on where his toned muscles had been on full display. He was remarkably lithe, yet powerfully built and well put together.

Elanor had blinked at the sight, flushing pink as well, but astutely ignored it to the best of her ability, doing her best to clear her mind of emotion. If that was a way of testing her meditation, she felt it was a test she failed dismally. She realised though, he was just lacking in proper social niceties at some times.

"Ah, of course not." Harry smiled genially, before stepping outside and shutting the door behind him, leaving an awkward silence, yet again interrupted by Astoria.

"I think I'm in love Daphne." She stared at the door he had just gone through with a dreamy expression. The dual strangled chokes of horror that came afterwards made her whole day just that much sweeter.

/

Stepping off the train with Elanor, followed by Astoria and Daphne, who quickly said their farewells as they went to get a carriage with their friends, Harry looked at the stone castle of Hogwarts, towering into the skyline above Hogsmeade. Tall, proud… dark and secretive. Harry frowned slightly at that impression, but judged it to be an outward deterrent to enemies, a throwback from medieval times. In the night sky amidst the twinkling stars, it stood as a powerful sign of Wizardkind.

"You'll get used to it." Elanor murmured from by his side. "When I first came here at eleven, it was awe-inspiring." She sighed in remembrance. "It's easy to forget just how powerful a symbol this castle is."

"Come on." She nudged him lightly, glancing around her as she did so. "We should find a carriage."

Tearing his eyes away from the castle, the slight chill Harry felt made him wary. He eventually returned a reply to Elanor though she picked up on his distant tone. "Yes. We should."

He barely spared a glance at the Thestrals pulling the carriages, the skeleton like, bat-winged horses that had a taste for meat and were visible only to those who had witnessed death and fully understood the concept.

As he sat quietly in the carriage, Elanor casting him a worried look for a moment before he blinked and returned a smile, indicating he was ok, and merely lost in thought, they crossed the wards. Immediately, Harry fought the urge to shudder, as the sickly sensation of sludge rolled into his head, though Elanor failed to notice such a thing.

The moment passed though, as he forcefully pulled all of his determination into destroying the intruder. A few moments of silent struggle later, he thought he could almost hear a broken wail of what seemed to be a woman, and the slightly dark tone of an old man's voice, before he subdued the tendril of magic in his mind. Whoever or whatever did this, did not need informing he had broken free. Let them think they had succeeded, and when he discovered what this was, heads would roll.

He chanced a small peek at Elanor's mind, silently praying for forgiveness, locking gazes with her for a fleeting moment. She was unable to tell what he was doing, simply because she wasn't experienced enough with Occluding, but he thankfully found nothing of the sort affecting her, as it had him.

/

A short while later, they reached the castle, Harry parting ways with Elanor for the moment, as he waited for the arrival of the first years, and Professor McGonagall, who was supposed to escort both him and them to the Sorting Ceremony. Catching sight of Hagrid, the half-giant gamekeeper leading the first years up to the door, he slipped in amongst them, as he knocked loudly on the doors, which were swiftly opened to reveal a stern faced woman wearing a fine witch's hat.

Casting her gaze over them, she thanked Hagrid for bringing them, this time without any mishaps such as children falling out of boats, before her eyes lingered on Harry.

Giving them a small speech about how their house was their family, having brought them into the antechamber, just before the doors to the great hall, she advised they smartened themselves up, before ushering Harry over to the side.

"Mr Potter, I presume?" she asked him.

"Yes professor." He returned smoothly.

"Good. Well, you'll be sorted after the first years. It's not every year that we get a transfer student in, and Headmaster Dumbledore… wants to help you make a good impression, it seems." She voiced slightly distastefully at Dumbledore's seeming eccentricity. "You'll start class with the rest of your year-mates, but feel free to see your head of house, or me, if you find you are behind the rest of the students."

"Of course professor." Harry replied with a small nod, eyes drinking in the flickering candles and slightly nervous first years.

"Form a line now children!" McGonagall called out firmly, causing the first years to scramble slightly as they lined up, while Harry placed himself at the rear, knowing he would be last to be sorted anyway.

"Good!" McGonagall remarked, as she turned to lead them into the hall, stopping the students just before the dais where a ratty old hat was placed on a wooden stool. As Harry was bringing up the rear, quite a few students looked surprised to see someone obviously older than a first year there. Some remembered seeing him on the train and began whispering amongst each other to see if anyone knew who he was.

Harry chanced a small glance at the Slytherin table, where he saw Elanor sat on the end nearest to the teachers, with a stoic look, ignoring the slightly disdainful looks she was getting from other people. Though this made Harry slightly angry, there wasn't anything he could do about it right now. He also noticed Tori, who seemed to be staring at him raptly, causing him to feel slightly uncomfortable and slightly regretting teasing her. It wasn't as if he knew how she'd react to him. He was being stared at by a lot of people, but she seemed to be practically drooling over him. This was a lesson to be learnt, he told himself harshly.

On his other side, he could see what was unmistakeably the Boy-Who-Lived, Neville Longbottom. He seemed to hold himself with quiet strength, despite most of the unsorted first years whispering about him. Clear as day on his forehead was a lightning bolt scar, from where he had allegedly been hit by the Killing Curse, though how that was the conclusion people had come to, Harry was unsure.

Finally the clamour died down, as a rip opened in the hat, by the brim, and it began to sing.

It turned out that it wasn't a bad singer, though perhaps a boring one. Maybe it didn't have any inspiration this year? At least it got the basic values of each house across, and wowed the muggleborns, Harry thought amusedly.

Eventually having completed the obligatory tradition, Professor McGonagall called up the students one by one, as the Sorting Hat belted out which house they were going to for each student that wore it. As the last student was sorted, Harry pre-emptively made his way to stand by McGonagall, as the old Headmaster rose to his feet, wearing a horrifically sparkly set of robes with terribly clashing colours. It was topped off with a lurid pink hat, and his half-moon spectacles made him look utterly insane. Eccentric was the politically correct word, but Harry preferred his opinion on this one.

"Ah congratulations all!" his eyes twinkled as he spoke, smiling widely at the students. "But that's not all. Of course you may be wondering who this young man is." He continued, causing McGonagall to huff slightly by Harry's side.

"Well, I am pleased to welcome Harry Potter to Hogwarts. Transferring in to fourth year, I hope you give him a warm welcome!" Dumbledore beamed as if it was some sort of award ceremony.

Rolling his eyes in his head, he simply took the proffered sorting hat from McGonagall, before muttering an Engorgement charm in her earshot, so he could fit on the stool. McGonagall blinked for a moment, having realised of course, that the stool was much too small for a boy of his age, but nodded at his good sense. Smoothly sitting, he dropped the hat on his head.

And then he could feel his mind floating away, as the Hat's consciousness settled into his own.

'A pleasure to meet you Hat.' Harry offered genially, as it began humming and pondering for a moment.

'Oh! I suppose it is a pleasure to meet you too, but my word, what I'm seeing here is by all rights, incredible.' The hat replied to him. 'Well, I can see that you're occluding some things from me, after all I am a master of seeing one's mind.'

'You can?' Harry frowned mentally.

'Oh yes.' It replied. 'I have thousands of years of experience at this little hobby of mine.'

'A hobby?' Harry snorted slightly in amusement. 'I would imagine that would be writing songs.'

'I call it how I see it Mr Potter.' It replied equally amused. 'I dare say, you're a rather intriguing individual. Even with all my experience, I doubt I'd break through to what you're hiding, but then again, I am only here to see where you fit best.'

'Frightening individual too.' It murmured after a moment of sifting through what Harry had allowed it to see. 'You're not actually very ambitious are you?' it asked after a moment.

'Not especially no. What I want to achieve is probably rather audacious though and probably not easy.' Harry conceded. 'It's only a personal goal.'

'You're incredibly brave, when required, I suppose.' It murmured. 'You have a sharp mind, and wit, but don't live for knowledge. You learn what's necessary.'

'You work hard at everything you do.' It added. 'But you… are so so very sly. You would run rings around those children in Slytherin.'

'You would fit well everywhere it seems.' The hat pointed out. 'You certainly can act the part in any of the houses.'

'But you… have an edge of such pure cunning, it would be criminal if I didn't sort you into old Sal's house.' It sighed. 'Then again, you're only showing me what you want me to see.'

'I can see you have Miss Riddle's best interests in mind, given her family and everything. How you know that, when the old goat has done all he can to hide the information, I'll never know.' It griped slightly.

'Loyal to whoever you consider a friend. Yet, you show an inherent lack of trust.' It sighed.

At this point, various mutterings could be heard in the hall, Elanor gazing at the hat in rapt attention, though the sorting had been going on for several minutes now.

'Ohh oho!' the hat chuckled. 'If you can pull that off, you definitely deserve to be a Slytherin.'

'Slytherin then hmm?' Harry smirked slightly. 'You know, I'm glad you can't reveal anything I show you.'

'Of course, of course… Miss Riddle needs a stalwart friend here.' The hat sighed. 'I can only hope you do the right thing in this whole mess. Tweak the old goat's beard for me as well!'

'Has to be…'

"SLYTHERIN!"

AN 21.08.2014

So it took me a little thinking to write this. Who did I want them to see on the train? How do they interact? How would his sorting go? How does Harry act with others that aren't Elanor? I also laid the groundwork for the fact that he's a remarkable actor, implied by both Ellie and the Hat, but at the core, he is cunning. He deceives everyone around him, even admittedly deceiving Ellie at some points, despite having her best interests in mind. What's his purpose here anyway? Just some things to think about. The funny thing is, you can never really tell what he's thinking. You just don't know him well enough yet.

I'm fully aware the Ice Queen thing is cliche, but it is her main fanon personality, as is Astoria's polar opposite. It works well enough for me, and they are characters that aren't explored in any detail. You'll learn more about them and various others eventually.

This chapter was intended to reach the first lessons, but after 6.5k words, I felt a separate one introducing him to the house and general population was best.

Til next time!

*Here's hoping this fic doesn't get hit with a Type1/Code1 error like my other did.*